Controversial Senate appointee Roland Burris of Illinois arrived at the Capitol Tuesday. Senate leaders rejected his credentials, and he vows a legal fight to claim the seat. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Senate rejects Burris, but law may be on his side
The would-be senator from Illinois, named by a tainted governor, vows to fight on.
By Amanda Paulson | Staff Writer/ January 6, 2009 edition
Reporter Amanda Paulson discusses the US Senate's refusal to seat Roland Burris as Barack Obama's replacement as the junior senator from Illinois.
Susan Walsh/AP
New Senator? Roland Burris of Illinois was prevented from taking his seat on Tuesday.
Chicago
He wasn’t sworn in with his class on Tuesday, but it’s looking more likely that Roland Burris will replace Barack Obama as the next junior senator from Illinois.
The Senate leadership has vowed to keep him out, and in Illinois, lawmakers and officials are fuming at the chutzpah of their governor, Rod Blagojevich, who faces criminal corruption charges and impeachment, in appointing a senator. Racial politics have added a new political wrinkle to the imbroglio.
But Mr. Burris, a former attorney general and comptroller in Illinois and a noted African-American politician, seems to face few legal hurdles that will stop him from eventually taking the office, though his credentials were rejected because the Illinois secretary of state had refused to sign the requisite paperwork.
“It seems pretty clear he’s entitled to be seated,” says Prof. Robert Bennett, at Northwestern University School of Law. A 1969 US Supreme Court ruling laid out the conditions in which Congress can refuse to seat a member, and the court reiterated them in a recent decision on term limits. Still, a few scenarios exist that could yet prevent Burris from holding the office for the next two years, says Professor Bennett.
While Burris’s senatorial status remains unclear, momentum is building among Illinois legislators against the man who selected him, Governor Blagojevich. By appointing Burris, “it may be that Blagojevich has speeded up the process of being kicked out of office,” Bennett says.
An Illinois House panel met Sunday to consider impeachment. Some say an impeachment vote could come this week – with a possible second vote next week after the new legislature convenes. The state Senate would then need to hold a trial, but the whole process could be over within weeks.
When it comes to Burris’s appointment, some say Blagojevich outsmarted the legislature. Lawmakers had considered calling for a special election to fill Obama’s seat, but backed off after Blagojevich’s lawyer assured them the governor was not planning to fill the vacancy. Democratic lawmakers were also concerned that voters might elect a Republican.
“They took the governor at his lawyer’s word that he would not do this,” says Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois in Champaign. “You have a guy who is completely running amok, and they handed him a live hand grenade,” he adds.
In appointing Burris, Blagojevich settled on someone with relatively high standing, especially in the African-American community. Burris was the first black man in Illinois elected to statewide office when he became comptroller in 1979.
The Senate appointment enhanced Blagojevich’s image among Illinois African-Americans, long the group that sees him most favorably. The move also injected racial politics into the ongoing political chess game.
On Sunday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D) of Illinois and numerous black ministers gave Burris a rousing send-off at the New Covenant Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. At the event Congressman Rush called the Senate, in threatening to reject Burris, the “last bastion of plantation politics.”
Professor Mooney argues that charges of racist undertones in the Senate’s actions are misleading. “This whole thing is a sham, and it’s really one of the foulest things I’ve seen in politics in a foul political state,” Mooney says. Neither Rush nor Burris, he notes, supported Obama during his primary Senate race. But, he adds, the tactic might help shore up support for Blagojevich among some voters and make it more difficult for the Senate to reject an African-American appointee.
Some sort of momentum for a compromise solution seems to be building. Even Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada, who was initially adamant in his refusal to seat the nominee, said that “there’s always room to negotiate.” Burris plans to meet with Senator Reid on Wednesday.
The Senate has based its authority to turn Burris away on a clause in the Constitution stating that “Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members.” But legal experts say that claim was significantly weakened by the US Supreme Court’s 1969 ruling that the US House did not have the power to block the appointment of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a representative from New York. However, Bennett says there are at least a few possible scenarios that could keep Burris from taking office. The Senate Rules Committee could hold up Burris’s approval long enough for Blagojevich to be impeached, which might free Blagojevich’s successor to appoint someone else, though this scenario is still legally questionable. The Illinois legislature could also still call a special election that could displace Burris before he finishes the current term.
Burris kept his remarks simple on Tuesday but vowed to keep fighting.
“My name is Roland Burris, the junior senator from the state of Illinois,” he said. “I was advised that my credentials were not in order.”
Comments
2. Ed Rich | 01.06.09
All connected with Rod Blogo. are either tainted, or dirty. Anyone in their right mind would never admitt knowing, or at least having any contact with him. Blogo. and OJ Simpson never do anything wrong, even if they are caught outright with their hand in the cookie jar. Blojo. is one for the record books. What a soap opra, and this man plays all the characters at the same time. He is such a con man.
3. RABO | 01.06.09
Yes the Governor is currently in trouble, but what hasn’t been shown so far is how that makes this appointment illegal, or even improper. Regardless of the public’s feelings toward Blagojecich, the appointment should stand. Those that are opposed to it will have a chance to do something about it, legally, at the polls next time around.
4. Perry C. Abernethy | 01.06.09
Regardless of the controversy over Blagojevich, Burris was legally appointed to the Senate seat. Its going to take a dandy dance step for the U.S. Supreme Court to avoid the controversy or not seat Burris. The long term impact and consequences of not seating Burris is going to be a watershed and a waterloo for Democrats, the U.S. Senate and the citizens of the United States.
5. B. Ericson | 01.06.09
James M. wrote “Well, without the SoS signature, it’s not a problem for the Senate. Why doesn’t he obtain that signature and then give the Senate a Constitutional Crisis. As it stands, he’s nobody. He needs one signature, which amounts to a Legislative check on the Governor’s power.”
The U.S. Constituion does NOT require Mr. Burris to have the signature of the Ill. Sec. of State. That is a Senate rule, and it doesn’t override the Constitution. The U.S. Const. leaves it to the states to decide how vacant Senate seats are filed. The U.S. Senate has no authority over the state of Illinois! As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court has already spoken on that very subject and stated that the matter is left to the states. The Senate rule barring Mr. Burris from the Senate, therefore, is not Constitutional.
6. D. Grant Haynes | 01.06.09
Americans, I am weary of your terminally immature and hopelessly skewed views re: your so-called morality.
Blagojevich was caught in a sting operation. What he unwisely allowed to be recorded on his telephone was likely no worse than the candid conversations of half the hypocrites in Congress who would feign great shock over Blagojevich.
Blagojevich is the duly elected governor of Illinois. It is his duty and prerogative to fill the senate seat being vacated by President-elect Obama.
Roland Burris may or may not be qualified to become the junior senator from Illinois, but his adjudged suitability or lack thereof to fill the post should not hinge on the public’s and media’s current obsession with Blagojevich’s alleged monstrous nature.
D. Grant Haynes
7. Dan Hass | 01.06.09
What we have is a U.S. Attorney (Fitz) blocking a duly elected governor (Blago) from fulfilling his role by making a corruption charge that most believe cannot win in court. If this is the way we want our system to work, what is to keep one of the US Attorneys for NY from filing a corruption charge against Governor Patterson - even though they know they can’t win it in court - to keep him from appointing Caroline Kennedy?
8. Tom Pedersen | 01.07.09
As much as I believe Burris is a bad appointment, I do think that his is a legal appointment and that he should be sworn in and take the office. Too many of us make the emotional error of mixing up right and wrong with legal and illegal. This is true in polics generally…politics is often immoral, dirty and dispicable. Because these are law makers, they are careful to protect their sleeze from being illegal. Should we want to change that, we will have to get a set of steel ones and get to work…or pass a constitutional amendment to limit terms of office. After all, a new politician cannot steal as efficiently as an experienced one.
9. Paddy Rao | 01.07.09
It has been the history of this country to accept state appointed officials. States have sent their reps to Washington, and not the other way around. I advise folks to go see “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.”
So why the brouhaha over a genuine appointment? Mr. Burris has an outstanding record, why is everyone forgetting that? Just because their favorite son, Mr. Obama opposes the appointment?
Mr. Burris will only add value to the senate, and everything else is secondary, and smells of silly politics.
10. Linda C | 01.07.09
What a waste to time. There are people being bombed in Iraq and Gaza and the United States is wasting their efforts on stopping a professional squeaky clean politician from the Senate seat where he could make a tremendous contribution to Illinois, this country and the world.
I doubt if Tammy Ducksworth or Lisa Madigan had been selected there would be all this hoopla hah. So just let the guy in like the US Rules Committee stated - It’s legal. Is there any legality left in the world? Just let the guy in and stop the drama. I’m sure we’ll be proud of the work he does, given his excellent political background.
Later for the Secretary not certifying - Jesse White is just a secretary. He can’t stop a mandate of the executive who is in this case is the Governor. If this appointment doesn’t go through - then I do smell racism, which I hope is not the case.
11. D. Grant Haynes | 01.08.09
Linda C. wrote, “If this appointment doesn’t go through - then I do smell racism, which I hope is not the case.”
_______________________________
I would add, not only will racism be evident, but also hypocrisy, stupidity, and a hundred other bizarre qualities that are excessively abundant in the warped and puritanical American psyche.
D. Grant Haynes
(Note: I am “posting to quickly”? What on earth might that nonsensical line possibly mean? I fiddled with my statement for 5-10 minutes! DGH)
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1. James M | 01.06.09
Well, without the SoS signature, it’s not a problem for the Senate.
Why doesn’t he obtain that signature and then give the Senate a Constitutional Crisis. As it stands, he’s nobody. He needs one signature, which amounts to a Legislative check on the Governor’s power.